In hydrology, '''interflow''' is the lateral movement of water in the unsaturated zone, or vadose zone, that returns to the surface or enters a stream.<ref name="Ward and Trimble, 2004">{{cite book|title=Environmental Hydrology|year=2004|publisher=CRC Press|location=Boca Raton|isbn=1566706165|page=122|author=Ward, A.|author2=Trimble, S.}}</ref> Interflow is sometimes used interchangeably with throughflow;<ref name="Ward and Trimble, 2004"/> however, throughflow is specifically the subcomponent of interflow that returns to the surface, as overland flow, prior to entering a stream or becoming groundwater.<ref name="Fetter, 2009">{{cite book|last=Fetter|first=C.|title=Applied Hydrogeology|year=2001|publisher=Prentice-Hall|location=New Jersey|isbn=0130882399|page=41}}</ref> Interflow occurs when water infiltrates (see infiltration (hydrology)) into the subsurface, hydraulic conductivity decreases with depth, and lateral flow proceeds downslope.<ref name="Ward and Trimble, 2004"/> As water accumulates in the subsurface, saturation may occur, and interflow may exfiltrate as return flows, becoming overland flow.<ref name="Ward and Trimble, 2004"/>
==References== {{reflist}}
Category:Hydrology Category:Aquatic ecology Category:Hydrogeology